Chronic Pain
The first in a blog series on “Pain”. Submitted by guest author, Kevin Samuels, Outreach Coordinator, Flowers Health: https://jflowershealth.com/
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Chronic pain (long-term pain) affects about 40 million people in the US. Some sources say the numbers could be as high as 100 million. Beyond the debilitating personal effects, chronic pain costs the US over $600 billion every year.
Pain is a subjective experience. What’s painful to one person might be just a slight discomfort to another. That said, pain that lasts for long periods could be crippling, regardless of its severity.
People in the US report having more pain than people in other countries. 1 in 3 Americans report that they experience pain “often” or “very often.”
In the US, 126.1 million adults had experienced some pain in the past three months. Among them, 10.5 million had experienced severe pain every day.
What Is Pain?
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” In layman’s terms, pain is an experience that causes discomfort. It may be due to an injury or to the brain’s inability to process pain signals properly.
Pain may vary in severity, location, and the involvement of body parts. Some pain may be limited to the area of injury, while some pain may affect the entire body. For example, a headache involves only the head, and a stomachache affects only the belly.
People use different terms to describe their pain. Some of them include:
– Burning
– Sharp
– Dull
– Intense
– Aching
– Cramping
– Shooting
– Stabbing
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John D. Miller is the founder/owner of Home Care Partners, LLC, a Massachusetts business providing private duty, personalized in-home assistance and companion care services to those needing help in daily activities and household functions.
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